Virtual World: Close Combat Mage

Chapter 242 - If that’s the case...

Ye Xiaowu had more or less predicted that Gu Fei could kill a monster thirty levels higher. The strongest aspect of a level 70 Werewolf was its regenerative ability. He knew that Gu Fei would be a menace to Werewolves after Gu Fei had gotten himself a weapon that could completely nullify regeneration from that chain quest back then. Moreover, Gu Fei’s full-Agility build allowed him to almost match a level 70 Werewolf’s speed. Actually, he was more surprised that Gu Fei was only troubling the Werewolves now despite the latter’s indomitable fighting prowess, which Ye Xiaowu had personally witnessed when Gu Fei had beaten up other players at level 0!

The monitoring team resumed work upon seeing that Gu Fei’s newest achievement did not elicit their desired classic reaction from Ye Xiaowu. Actually, Ye Xiaowu was at a loss on how to deal with Gu Fei. He could only secretly thank his lucky stars that Gu Fei was not a gaming maniac; otherwise, with his leveling efficiency and ability to grind on monsters far beyond his level, he would most likely be five levels higher than the other players if he spent over ten hours in-game.

Inside the game, Gu Fei confidently stepped on the bridge once more and made his way to the other end. The two Werewolves were still standing at the other end of the bridge. After evaluating the strength of the Werewolf he had just fought with, Gu Fei figured that he was more than capable of taking on the two of them. Although that would require greater concentration and precision, it was precisely this exertion that made things more interesting for him!

He did not even think of fighting the two Werewolves one at a time and merely took out Sacred Flames of Baptism posthaste as he dashed forward to engage the monsters in an intense fight. He experimented with swapping Sacred Flames of Baptism and Moonlit Nightfalls as he fought them and learned that the Werewolves could not regenerate the damage caused by Sacred Flames of Baptism but could regenerate all the damage caused by Moonlit Nightfalls, since the damage either attack caused seemed to be calculated differently.

Upon uncovering this, Gu Fei went a step further and tried a different way of attacking; he accurately struck with Moonlit Nightfalls the wound created by Sacred Flames of Baptism and achieved a spectacular result. Specifically targeting the open wound had the same effect as nullifying regeneration, and the defense even appeared to be weaker in that part as well. Gu Fei chanted Twin Incineration and Moonlit Nightfalls’ Physical and Spell Damage burst forth, causing the Werewolf to howl in pain and to die quicker.

While this feat was theoretically easy to execute, employing such precise strike on a small, fine wound in reality was hard. Since the Werewolves’ speed was slightly faster than Gu Fei’s, defeating them using such a method would be less efficient than consistently dishing out strikes with Sacred Flames of Baptism.

Gu Fei considered this to be a challenge that he had never experienced before as he fought the Werewolves using this method.

A NPC was just that in the end. After killing the Werewolves, Gu Fei’s steadfast use of such specialized move allowed him to grasp the monsters’ attack patterns. The difficulty for him of accurately wounding the target like this was significantly lowered once everything became predictable.

Gu Fei was no longer as focused as before, and he finally registered the pinging sound of his Windchaser’s Emblem, which reminded him of his purpose for coming here.

Glancing at the latest coordinates, he saw that the target had moved quite a bit, but it was still somewhere within the village. When all was said and done, these Werewolves would be respawning in this village for players to kill them every day, but that player who could fight against monsters thirty levels higher was someone he would not meet often. Gu Fei hurriedly finished off the Werewolf he was currently fighting and ran toward the coordinates displayed.

The layout of Suoyun Village was similar to most in-game villages, but because this place was a Werewolf’s nesting ground, it made everything look dilapidated. Weeds and unkempt grass grew uninhibitedly everywhere in the village while deadwood and dried leaves cluttered the deserted paths, creating a rather dark and decaying atmosphere. Gu Fei walked along the path leading to the village. From time to time, a Werewolf would pounce out and attempt to attack him from the surrounding broken walls and decrepit buildings. Gu Fei faced these ambushers as he kept on pressing forward with measured steps.

The coordinates refreshed once more, and the location indicated was just a wall away from him. Gu Fei mentally prepared himself as he ate half a loaf of bread and an apple. With his HP and mana full, he started to closely observe his surroundings. Gu Fei tightly gripped Moonlit Nightfalls and slowly walked over once he confirmed that he was no longer going to gain the aggro of any nearby Werewolf after coming to this wall.

He took a turning, saw half a man’s body disappear from a nearby corner ahead, and hurriedly gave chase. When he saw no traces of a Werewolf in this area and the lack of any Werewolf’s corpse on the ground, Gu Fei felt somewhat suspicious, yet he still did not stop his forward advance. He peeked over that corner and saw his target‘s back. Gu Fei rushed out before abruptly stopping dead in his track, his body turning rigid almost instantly.

The person slowly faced him and looked at Gu Fei with a huge grin.

“So it was you...” Gu Fei slowly said.

“He he. To think you would still remember me.” The person chuckled.

Why would Gu Fei not remember this man, Nightmare of Death? Besides No Smile, he was the second person whom Gu Fei had zealously hunted down to retrieve the dagger, Frost Memories, which this person and his gang had looted from Sword Demon.

The man belonged to a trashy organization that killed players to loot their equipment. Gu Fei was originally being targeted by them that day, but due to Sword Demon’s incident, they had suddenly found themselves on the receiving end of Gu Fei’s attacks, instead. Afterward, Gu Fei had looked forward to this unsavory person taking revenge on him, yet he had heard not a peep from him ever since. Even the gang that looted players’ equipment had also vanished without a trace, no longer prowling for new targets as diligently as before. Sword Demon had spent considerable time searching for this man, yet even he had turned up empty-handed.

Suddenly, several men came running from behind one of the side walls and darted over to the two of them, the man in front shouting at Nightmare of Death, “Act quickly! What are you exchanging pleasantries for?!”

The person beside the man was self-assured, “There’s no hurry. My equipment has traits that enhance the effects of Hunting Trap, making it last as long as fifty-four seconds. Saying a few more words is no biggie as long as you speak quickly.”

“What’s the point in having such a long duration if the target doesn’t even step on it?!” his companion derided.

“Yeah, but he did step on it,” the man happily announced to everyone, “You’ve still got thirty-seven seconds!”

Gu Fei looked at the newcomers and smiled, “Oh. It’s the Calabash Brothers!”

They were the same players who had come to Nightmare of Death’s aid outside the Thieves’ Union and had been handily beaten down by Gu Fei.

“Thirty-one seconds!” the man who had set the Hunting Trap announced without bothering with Gu Fei’s taunting.

“Man, you are really strong that even those Werewolves couldn’t kill you. Still, you won’t be able to escape us!” Nightmare of Death mirthlessly laughed. Although about twenty seconds were left for them to speak, it could take a turn for the worse if they continued to drag things out. Nightmare of Death’s goal was to kill Gu Fei for the latter to lose a level and for them to loot his top-grade equipment, so chatting with him was definitely not a priority right now.

Gu Fei had 10 PK points on him right now; death would cause him to lose three levels. Moreover, PK value had a correlation to the chances of a player to drop equipment. With Gu Fei’s PK value, he was bound to lose a lot of his items in one go; there might even be a possibility of him dropping everything he owned.

Nightmare of Death and his gang specialized in killing players to loot their equipment, so they were very familiar with the mechanics involved in that field. Today was definitely the ideal scenario that they had dreamed of. No more words were exchanged after. Hunting Trap only limited a player’s movement and would not stop him or her from attacking. Nightmare of Death was holding a grudge against Gu Fei for the longest time and knew very well of Gu Fei’s stupendous melee capabilities, so he dared not step forward to take him on. The Mage with him prepared an AOE spell, the Warrior readied his Charge, and the Hunter nocked an arrow on Snipe – all were planning to use skills that would take full advantage of Gu Fei’s temporarily immobile status.

“Go to hell!” Nightmare of Death eagerly awaited his brothers’ attacks on Gu Fei that would cause him to burst like a piñata. Gu Fei merely smiled calmly in response. Lifting his sword up, he pointed toward a location and said, “Translocation! Blink!”

“Ha ha ha! Blink, he said...” The Hunter who had placed the trap guffawed. Blink was considered as the fastest form of movement and was therefore one of the skills disabled by Hunting Trap, so how would he activate it?

And yet, Gu Fei unexpectedly materialized behind someone just as the Hunter uttered the word ‘blink’. Blink’s effect was faster than spoken words, it seemed.

The person whose behind Gu Fei had teleported to could not react in time to the latter placing his sword across his neck and him patting his shoulder with a hand, “You’re right. A trap is useless if the target doesn’t step on it!”

“What?!” All were in shock as they turned their gazes on the corner of a wall. The Hunting Trap that the Hunter had set manually already triggered and exposed itself, yet Gu Fei’s movement was still as free as before. Could he have avoided the maws of the trap in the exact moment that it had been triggered?

What kind of reaction time is that?! Everyone was baffled.

A trap was something a player had to manually set up. While it slightly decreased the springing speed of the trap, anyone could only escape it if his or her reaction time was beyond that of a normal human being.

Actually, anyone could see if someone’s foot was caught in a trap or not. Reflexively, they glanced over to Gu Fei’s legs, but they could only see Gu Fei’s dark, long robe draping over his legs and obscuring them from view.

All were immediately angered by this and they hatefully glared at Gu Fei; he was never trapped and merely acted the part, it seemed. Gu Fei laughed uproariously, “No matter how contemptible you may think my action is, it’s still not comparable to you guys’ despicable deeds!” With that, his Twin Incineration flashed and killed off the man whose neck he was threatening with his sword. The remaining enemies had crossed swords with Gu Fei before, so they knew fully well what he was capable of. Although the players held numerical superiority, they only thought of preserving their lives at the moment by running off in separate directions.

Gu Fei was planning to kill this bunch of players when he teleported himself within the crowd, but he never expected them to flee without standing up to him even once. Since Gu Fei did not know of any skill that could let him split himself, he could only content himself with killing off another player with low HP with his sword before chasing after Nightmare of Death.